nations where the palestinians are seeking some legitimacy, the other palestinians, the fatah wing, mahmoud abbas is coming to new york to have a vote in the general assembly which will be a largely symbolic vote on statehood, especially after hamas has flexed its muscles and said military and not diplomacy is the way to legitimacy internationally, it seems loom foolhardy on the part of the palestinians. >> first of all, what's going on, you're president abbas, you've just been seen to be basically irrelevant to what's going on. supposedly gaza, which is part of any palestinian state, you have no influence or control over. so this is also a way to remind everybody that he's still there. now, the problem with it is, is that it is symbolic. it doesn't advance the cause of peace or palestinian interest but it's his way of trying to demonstrate relevancy. the real question is, is there a way to get beyond this so we get away from what's purely symbolic and move on what is substantive? as long as we're focused on symbols, we see a perpetuation of the palestinian history which leads to mo